Morocco’s head of government Aziz Akhannouch is, once again, involved in conflict of interest issues, this time in regard to the success of his company “Afriquia Gas” in the bidding war—in consortium with the Spanish company “Acciona” and with Othman Benjelleoun’s company “Green of Africa”–over the construction and operation of the future Casablanca seawater desalination plant.
The deal is worth no less than 15 billion MAD, as unveiled by Federation of the Democratic Left MP Fatima Tamni relating to a formal parliamentary inquiry sent on Monday.
Among the three shortlisted consortiums, which included Moroccan operators such as Afriquia Gaz, Nareva, CIMR, Somagec, and SGTM, the Moroccan operator of the Casablanca seawater desalination plant will be the winner of the contract for the project, as the pre-qualification process was launched in March 2022.
According to Article 245 of the Criminal Code, any public official who takes or receives any interest in acts, tenders, undertakings, or management of which he has, at the time of the act, in whole or in part, the administration or supervision shall be punished by imprisonment for five to ten years and a fine of 5,000 MAD to 100,000 MAD.
And here, the head of the government is showcasing an example of a simulated act in this affair, because he cannot be a referee and a competitor at the same time.
Even more striking, neither Afriquia Gaz nor Green of Africa hold prior experience in seawater desalination activities, yet they still they won the call for tenders with such a monumental deal.
This development is compounded by the fact that multiple companies mysteriously withdrew their bids to free up the arena for the head-of-government’s company to swoop in and take the prize.
The Minister of Water, Abdelkader Amara, said in November, 2020 that steps had been taken to build the largest seawater desalination plant on the continent in Casablanca, with a capacity of 300 million cubic meters to confront irrigation and water shortages in the most populated city in the country.
The project, launched by the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) as part of a Public-Private Partnership, will strengthen and secure the drinking water supply to part of the Casablanca-Settat region, while also providing water for irrigation.
The project involves designing, financing, building and operating a seawater desalination plant for a period of 30 years (divided into three years for construction and 27 years for operation), with a capacity of 548,000 cubic meters per day (200 million cubic meters per year), expandable to 822,000 cubic meters per day of treated water (300 million cubic meters per year).
The project anticipates financing via a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) governed by Statute No. 86-12 on PPP contracts and its implementation decree No. 2-15-45.
The applicant “will finance” the amount of the investment. The State will be responsible for acquiring the land needed to build the facilities, so Akhannouch was a strong competitor and a judge in this case.
Soaring fuel prices in Morocco have reignited a controversy over conflicts of interest between business and politics, exposing oil tycoon Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch to fierce criticism, especially while barrel prices are down, not only one time or two, but in many occasions.